''Night and Day'' is a 1978 play by

Tom Stoppard Sir Tom Stoppard (born , 3 July 1937) is a Czech born British playwright and screenwriter. He has written for film, radio, stage, and television, finding prominence with plays. His work covers the themes of human rights, censorship, and politi ...

. The sets and costumes were designed by

Carl Toms Carl Toms Order of the British Empire, OBE (29 May 1927 – 4 August 1999) was a British Scenic design, set and costume designer who was known for his work in theatre, opera, ballet, and film. Education Carl Toms was born in 1927 at Kirkby-in ...

and it ran for two years at the Phoenix Theatre in central London, UK. The lead roles of Richard Wagner and Ruth Carson were created by John Thaw and Diana Rigg, respectively.

Overview

The play is

post-colonial Postcolonialism is the critical academic study of the cultural, political and economic legacy of colonialism and imperialism, focusing on the impact of human control and exploitation of colonized people and their lands. More specifically, it is a ...

in nature, a satire on the British news media, and an exploration of its

discourse Discourse is a generalization of the notion of a conversation to any form of communication. Discourse is a major topic in social theory, with work spanning fields such as sociology, anthropology, continental philosophy, and discourse analysis. ...

. Stoppard employs yet another sub-text in ''Night and Day'' by commenting on the very form of language through his remarks on journalism (Stoppard is a former journalist himself). There is a consistent use of pun and innuendo sprinkled in the dialogues of each character. This kind of linguistic play with words and meaning has marked the playwright for his interest and most keen observations on the aesthetics of language. ''Night and Day'' throws up themes of colonization, journalism, language, and alternate or multiple realities. The plot narrative unfolds through the silent or subconscious thoughts of Ruth Carson, who is a bystander to the main events taking place around her. She is regularly shown to express conflicting ideas between what she is saying, and what she is actually thinking. The narrative technique merges the forms of fiction and non-fiction, where Stoppard has created an imaginary country called Kambawi, located in Africa, and situated in a

time-space. The story of the play unveils the politics under which the British media approach the coverage of the impending internal war in this country, through the paradigms of

objectivity Objectivity can refer to: * Objectivity (philosophy), the property of being independent from perception ** Objectivity (science), the goal of eliminating personal biases in the practice of science ** Journalistic objectivity, encompassing fairne ...

, factual reportage and the inevitable realities of linguistic manipulation and

double meaning A double entendre (plural double entendres) is a figure of speech or a particular way of wording that is devised to have a double meaning, of which one is typically obvious, whereas the other often conveys a message that would be too socially ...

Reception

''Night and Day'' won the ''Evening Standard'' Award for Best Play. In a positive review, Michael Billington wrote:

References

External links

Review
in '' Variety'' (2004) {{DEFAULTSORT:Night And Day (Play) Plays by Tom Stoppard 1978 plays Works about colonialism Works about journalism